Grinder hits game-winner for Wallkill

CORNWALL — The home fans erupted after Joe McConville's 3-pointer gave top-seeded Cornwall a one-point lead with 31 seconds remaining in Tuesday's Section 9 Class A boys' basketball tournament quarterfinal.

JUSTIN RODRIGUEZ

CORNWALL — The home fans erupted after Joe McConville's 3-pointer gave top-seeded Cornwall a one-point lead with 31 seconds remaining in Tuesday's Section 9 Class A boys' basketball tournament quarterfinal.

During the fever pitch, Wallkill guard Dean Grinder, one of the faces of the never-quit Panthers, thought the game and season might be over.

"It got loud in there," Grinder said. "We kept our composure and I was hoping for a prayer."

That would come in the form of a bank shot by Grinder with 15.5 seconds left that gave eighth-seeded Wallkill, a three-win team last season, a dramatic 44-43 win.

The Panthers (11-8) move on to face host Saugerties, the fourth seed, in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday.

"I got it up there, there it is," Grinder said. "Just a bank. I just went out there and did what I did all year. Just shoot."

Grinder's bank shot from 12 feet out on the left wing culminated Wallkill's wild win in a rivalry game fueled, in part, by the schools' yearly showdowns on the football field.

Wallkill, which had to beat Port Jervis in an outbracket game on Saturday, trailed 26-16 at halftime. However, the Panthers used a 21-6 third-quarter run to take a 37-32 lead.

Wallkill never trailed again, until McConville's 3-pointer off an assist from Don Malone, who had grabbed a missed free throw by Bo Vitale. McConville finished with 18 points. Trailing 44-43, Cornwall had one last shot to win, but a desperation shot from the corner by Kevin Salis off an inbounds pass under the basket with 0.5 seconds fell short.

"We just wanted to take out the top seed, we knew we could do it," said Wallkill guard Nick Gomez, who scored 13 points. "They talked to us on the court, we talked back. The refs stopped it and told us there would be an automatic technical if we kept talking. We kept our composure and didn't let them get in our heads."

Grinder and center Sean Van Duser each had 10 points for Wallkill, which entered the tournament on a five-game losing streak.

All 10 of Grinder's points came in the second half. He picked up his third foul with 5:37 remaining in the second quarter and sat the bench the rest of the half.

Grinder's bank shot, off a fast break, sent Cornwall out in the Class A quarterfinals as the top seed for the second time in three years. Sixth-seeded Goshen eliminated Cornwall, the third seed, in the quarterfinals last season. Meanwhile, Wallkill is two wins away from its first Section 9 title since 1992.

"We've come back time and time again this season," Van Duser said. "We have been down 10 points at halftime before. We trust each other, we trust our scorers. We know that no matter what, we are going to get it done. That's what we did tonight."